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Should Gender Be Included In The Census?

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naomi24 | 15:54 Tue 10th Oct 2017 | News
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//The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has undertaken research as to whether the 2021 census should ask questions about people’s gender identity as well as their biological sex.
This follows protests that asking about people’s gender is discriminatory.

If the proposals go ahead, the change would leave the Government without accurate data on the number of men and women officially living in the country.

An online self-completion survey found that 0.8 per cent of approximately 10,000 respondents had transgender identities and that around half of this population – or 40 individuals – had undergone gender reassignment surgery.//

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/census-gender-transgender-non-binary-concerns-women-written-out-of-existence-germaine-greer-a7988991.html

I’ve never considered myself to be a feminist particularly, but I’m with them on this one. It seems the sensibilities of a very few are taking precedence over common sense. What say you?
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Although your first paragraph should be the other way round...
As for the question when all this nonsense was first thought up (who'd heard of trans-gender bathrooms, or any of the fictitious categories in the LGBTQWERTYUIOP acronym after the first four even five years ago?).

Well, it's one of a hundred things to do on a wet Sunday: "Find a new victim group".
Transgender (god help us) groups have vowed to physically attack feminists wherever and whenever they encounter them.
I know that.
There are real issues, v-e. They aren't made up out of nowhere. It's just not a biological one.
All?


Link please.
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Jim, //Oh dear. Well, be insulted then. //

That's okay - and it's okay to slap me for disagreeing with you? And you want to be respected as something you're not? As I said, confusion reigns.
> Why do I always think of Keele?

Perhaps because for a while Keele had the highest suicide rate among students of any University. Therefore it had a reputation as "depressing".

On the question of the census, if they ask "What is your sex?", that's the anatomical question - the reply should be based on what bits you physically have. If they ask "What is your gender?", that's the identity question - the reply should describe what you identify as. I think in both cases an answer set of "Male/Female/Other" is sufficient. I know people who were born with both male and female parts, and have needed gender reassignment surgery to allow them to identify more closely with one of the two sexes they were born with.
Just add a box for 'confused' should do it. Or maybe 2 boxes. 'Confused, physically born male', and 'confused, physically born female'.
I can't help but be reminded of the "Inalienable Right" scene from The Life of Brian.......
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Ellipsis, //I think in both cases an answer set of "Male/Female/Other" is sufficient.//

'Other' wouldn't be acceptable to Jim. He wants to identify as female. That's the crux of this discussion.

I too know people whose gender was inconclusive at birth, but that's a different issue entirely.
Maybe we need a third "in between" option? With a proper pronoun etc.
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I doubt that would be acceptable either, Pixie.
At least it's honest.
well you have the right word - gender

there could be two boxes - well census more than two! - sex male/female - or even three - male/female/yes please!

and one for gender - which has a bout a zillion choices

Apropos of nothing
The 1841 census the first where we have census returns - the nobs realised that it was just a list of names on a street
and so they had a hoolie before the 1851 census - what info do we want to collect ?
just in passing - it took a lot longer to work out that - profession was answered as what the responder thought looked good - carpenter, millwright etc - and not whether they were employed in that capacity or not.

Let me just make two quick points, Naomi:

1. My personal life has nothing whatsoever to do with this.

2. Haven't you ever wondered why I seem to have literally no problem whatsoever with being called "Jim"?
// Just add a box for 'confused' should do it.//

o good people have taken this subject to heart
I thought of boxes for days of the week as in
Male on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, and the rest of the week femail EXCEPT for sundays - undecided
> I too know people whose gender was inconclusive at birth, but that's a different issue entirely.

They serve perfectly to identify the issue at hand. Consider only those people. Before gender reassignment, how do they answer questions like "What sex are you?" or "What gender are you?", particularly if given choice of "Male" or "Female". They can either refuse to answer, or they can answer what they identify most closely as.

When it comes to the census, they need to carefully think about the question they ask - does it use the word sex, gender or identify, for example?

If person X is male sex and identifies as female, I don't see a problem with that if the question is worded as "How do you identify?". The census writers need to figure out why they're asking the question, then ask the appropriate question(s) to get the answers they want.

Whatever the question, I think answers of "Male", "Female" and "Other" are adequate. If they want more detail, they can ask people who check "Other" to provide it. Here is a list of sexual identities, for example:

http://genderfluidsupport.tumblr.com/gender

No need to put all of those on the census - simply put "Other" and let people fill in what they want under that.
// I too know people whose gender was inconclusive at birth, but that's a different issue entirely. //

o - we HAVE confused sex and gender - the condition was called inter-sex and not inter-gender - you know that condition of not being able to tell if a baby is a boy or a girl.


if you confuse sex and gender then any statement at all will be valid ( I hesitate to write - 'make sense')
Is the gender or sex demographic useful?
There should be three boxes in answer to Which gender are you.........
Male
Female
Don't know

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